ATLANTA – Only 28% of U.S. utilities have special billing systems for complex accounts. The remaining 72% may not be able to grapple with a variety of complicated rates and tariffs, but they can still provide special billing options that their largest customers have come to expect, quantitative and anecdotal evidence revealed in Chartwell’s latest report shows.
For example, bill consolidation, where multiple customer locations appear on a single utility bill, ranks high in popularity among C&I customers. And utilities can offer such a billing option even without huge investments in sweeping companywide technological advancements. At Oklahoma Gas & Electric, for example, an inhouse-developed system handles consolidated billing. However, the number of utilities providing this service has fallen off recently, from 58% of utilities offering it in 2001 to 48% offering it in 2002. This data and more is included in Chartwell’s report, Special Billing Services for Commercial and Industrial Customers, released in March 2003.
The report includes data from three separate Chartwell surveys: a 2003 survey of 100 utility billing executives regarding the billing options they offer customers; a 2002 survey of 50 utility marketing executives about the products/services they offer C&I customers, and a 2002 survey of 307 business owners. The business owner survey revealed that almost half of the nation’s small business would consider purchasing special billing options from their utilities.
Special Billing Services for Commercial and Industrial Customers is available from Chartwell for $250 and includes the 30-page report that analyzes the survey data and features three in-depth case studies of utilities’ efforts in upgrading their C&I billing offerings.
Special Billing Services for Commercial and Industrial Customers is part of The Chartwell Utility Marketing Research Series, an ongoing information service that provides utility case studies; topical analysis and research centered around specific products or services in the utility and energy services marketplace; and a database of 70 utilities and the products and services they offer.
For more information about the ongoing Research Series, the Report on Special Billing Services for Commercial and Industrial Customers, or the products/services database, please call (800) 432-5879, or (404) 237-9099.
Press contact: Jennifer Quay Allen (404) 237-9099.
